23,612 kids have stopped playing football as head injury concerns rise

Pop Warner’s chief medical officer thinks head injury concerns are driving children and parents away from youth football at a record rate.

Dr. Julian Bailes told Outside the Lineshead injuries are the “the No. 1 cause” for the 9.5% decline in participation Pop Warner experienced between 2010-2012. There were 248,899 players playing Pop Warner football in 2010. That number fell to 225,287 in 2012 according to data provided to OTL. Other youth football leagues are also experiencing a decline, including NFL-funded USA Football, which saw participation drop from 3 million to 2.8 million in 2011 among kids between the ages of 6 and 14.

Pop Warner, founded in 1929, is the largest youth football organization in the world; the NFL players union estimates that 60 to 70 percent of all NFL players started in the program.

There are certainly other factors which contribute to the decline in recent years. Greater popularity in sports like soccer and basketball, in addition to pressure on kids to focus on a specific sport also plays a factor in the shrinking number of players.

Pop Warner is taking steps to cut down the risk of head injury. In 2012, it “significantly cut back on the amount of tackling permitted during practice,” according to OTL, and this year the organization will partner with the NFL and USA Football to endorse “Heads Up,” which teachesThis year, the organization announced a partnership with the NFL to endorse “Heads Up” football, a program launched by USA Football and designed to teach proper tackling techniques, which will hopefully reduce the number of instances of hits like the one below.

23,612 kids have stopped playing football as head injury concerns rise

Participation has dropped 9.5% since 2010.

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